\n<\/p>\n
\n\tCierra Ortega, the \u201cLove Island USA\u201d Season 7 contestant who exited the show during its run amid backlash over racist social media posts from her past, is finally speaking out on \u201cNicolandria,\u201d the name given to fan favorite pairing Nic Vansteenberghe and Olandria Carthen. Cierra and Nic were a \u201cclosed-off\u201d couple when she was booted from the season in Episode 30. Nic and Olandria, who was also one of Cierra\u2019s close friends in the villa, proceeded to explore their connection with Cierra gone and were the season\u2019s runner-ups. <\/p>\n
\n\tIn a nine-minute video posted on TikTok, Cierra addressed Nic and Olandria in detail for the first time. None of the contestants on \u201cLove Island USA\u201d spoke about Cierra\u2019s exit on camera during the remainder of the season, nor have Nic or Olandria publicly commented on the Cierra situation in interviews after the finale.<\/p>\n
\n\tWhen asked by Variety<\/em> <\/em>post-finale if he had plans to reach out to Cierra, Nic side-stepped the question and responded: \u201cI\u2019m still taking time to process her whole situation and see where that goes. I\u2019m taking time with Olandria to focus on us and this new life that we\u2019re living.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tCierra is now telling \u201cLove Island USA\u201d viewers that she is \u201cmourning\u201d her relationship with Nic in real time. The duo appeared to be one of the strongest couples in the villa when Cierra abruptly exited.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI come out thinking Nic and I are in this amazing place\u2026 we\u2019re closed off and have these strong feelings for each other,\u201d Cierra said. \u201cComing out to see the whole internet rooting for [Nic and Olandria] to be together the entire time that him and I were together\u2026 yeah that hurt. Even when I saw it, it did not click to me. As I watched as a viewer as someone on the outside and saw their connection forming [after I left], I was like damn it fucking hurts.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cBut two things can exist at once,\u201d she continued. \u201cI can be sad for myself that I am mourning this relationship and all these things I thought were going to happen between us, and I can also be happy for two people I care about. As days went on and I didn\u2019t hear from either of them, the more hurt I became. When I first came out and I could appreciate the friendship and relationship and memories and find beauty in their situation because I thought they\u2019d come out and embrace me. As the days went on it felt like I never existed\u2026 That shit hurts. Being shut down with no closure\u2026 it\u2019s a lot. Yeah I\u2019m fucking hurt. But I\u2019m also an adult. I\u2019m just going through the motions. How do I feel? I am happy for them. Does it hurt? Of course. But both things can exist.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tCierra\u2019s exit from \u201cLove Island USA\u201d came amid an avalanche of\u00a0backlash against her\u00a0on social media after an alleged social media post from her past resurfaced online in which she used racist language. In the days after she got booted, Cierra\u2019s family released a statement\u00a0on Instagram to speak out against the toxic backlash they were facing.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWe\u2019re not here to justify or ignore what\u2019s surfaced,\u201d the family said. \u201cWe understand why people are upset, and we know accountability matters. But what\u2019s happening online right now has gone far beyond that. The threats. The cruel messages. The attacks on her family, her friends, even her supporters, it\u2019s heartbreaking. It\u2019s uncalled for. And no one deserves that kind of hate, no matter what mistake they\u2019ve made.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tCierra eventually released her own statement on Instagram a few weeks after her exit in which she said: \u201cI want to first start by addressing not just anyone that I have hurt or deeply offended, but most importantly, the entire Asian community. I am deeply, truly, honestly so sorry. I had no idea that the word held as much pain as much harm, and came with the history that it did or I never would have used it.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWatch Cierra\u2019s full response about \u201cNicolandria\u201d in the TikTok video below. The \u201cLove Island USA\u201d season 6 reunion is set to air Monday, August 25 on Peacock.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cierra Ortega, the \u201cLove Island USA\u201d Season 7 contestant who exited the show during its run amid backlash over racist social media posts from her past, is finally speaking out on \u201cNicolandria,\u201d the name given to fan favorite pairing Nic Vansteenberghe and Olandria Carthen. Cierra and Nic were a \u201cclosed-off\u201d couple when she was booted<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12615,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[2960,3668,5532,2961,1253,6248,3081,882],"class_list":{"0":"post-12614","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-cierra","9":"tag-exit","10":"tag-hurts","11":"tag-island","12":"tag-love","13":"tag-nicolandria","14":"tag-speaks","15":"tag-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}